


The River of Memory (Yuletide 2009 NYR challenge)

by snowynight



Category: Bible - Old Testament
Genre: 1000-3000 words, Canon Jewish Character, Character Study, Female Character of Color, Gen, Yuletide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-23
Updated: 2009-11-23
Packaged: 2017-10-03 15:52:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowynight/pseuds/snowynight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is Miriam's life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The River of Memory (Yuletide 2009 NYR challenge)

<http://yuletidetreasure.org/archive/87/theriver.html>

"The days in Egypt seem so distant."

"They have never been distant enough."

XXX

"It is a boy." Miriam says. This day should be happy, and Miriam hates that she can't.

"It is a boy." Miriam's mother repeats, looking at the baby boy in Miriam's arm. With the Pharoah's order, the baby is doomed.  
'Woe to that man, when God avenges him!' Miriam bursts.

"Shh." Miriam's mother hisses. The baby starts to cry. They both look back. "Miriam, help me. We must hide him."  
"Yes, mother." Miriam carefully holds the baby, singing a rhyme to will him silence. Her brother will live, she thinks, the Lord will have mercy on all of us.

 

Miriam stands by the side of the river, not daring to leave her baby brother out of sight. It is not fair, that they can't hide the baby any more and have to part from him. Her mother puts the baby in an ark here the early morning, and Miriam stays to watch over him. She will do her very best for her brother. Miriam holds her heart in her throat when an Egyptian woman discovers and picks up the baby.  
"Look! A baby!" . "It must be a Hebrew one." The woman continues to coos at him. So it must be fine, right?  
Miriam prays to the Lord and having straightened her clothes, she leaves her hiding place, trying to look as meek as she can.  
"Would you like a wet nurse?"

 

"Very fine, lead her to me."  
"Yes, Madam," Miriam's heart bursts with joy. She does not wait to bring her mother to the woman. Her brother will be safe now.

Miriam's friend passes by. She is dry-eyed, still mourning over her brother. Miriam might have shares this fate if not for Lord. Miriam sits by her and holds her hand.

"Let's pray to the Lord. "

"What good will it do to us?"

"He will listen. We should wait."

Miriam's friend is silent for a while, then they start to pray, to the Lord that their mother teaches them about.

XXX

One look at her brother's face and she knows what he comes for. Miriam stops her brother even before he starts. "Take it ." Miriam says, handing over a small parcel. Everyone talks about the Egyptian prince who strikes a foreman to death, and it will soon reach the Pharaoh's ear. It is no longer safe for him to stay. "May we meet again in freedom, by God's mercy," Miriam says, and it remain her prayer for forty years.

XXX

When the old dark man comes, claiming he is her younger brother, Miriam can hardly recognize him. Time is not kind to both of them. "Remember the night when we say farewell, and you give me bread and clothes?" the man says, and Miriam nods. Forty years weights heavily between them, but when they start to talk, the weight seems to lighten.  
Then he tells an incredible story. There is a burning brush, and the Lord that has been silent for four hundred years speaks. He sends her brother to set her people free. Aaron seems to be in doubt, and she does not blame him. Even Moses seems to still be awed by what he witnessed. But Miriam remembers the ark with the baby, and how the Lord has helped. She says,"Praise to the Lord. You will set us free."

Then the plagues occur, one more serious than the precedent. The once prideful and boastful Egyptians now have to bow their head down, as their land reeks, their harvest destroyed, their people and animals covered with gnats and boils. However, the Pharaoh still does not let them go. He eats his word again and again. Miriam sees her brothers' slumped shoulder and hands them each a cup of water. "He will change his heart," she says, Moses just nods.

One the night of the final plaque that surpasses all others, the atmosphere is so tense that she can slice it open with the knife Aaron uses, but it is also mixed with a spark of hope and joy. She raise the bread and says to her brothers, "Next year we will be out of Egypt."

Even the Pharaoh can't turn a blind eye to the whole Egypt's suffering now, not when he too has to mourn for his first born. Miriam does not even have time to prepare food, as the Egyptians are eager to drive her people off the land. ("You bring us death!" an Egyptian woman screams. Miriam recalls the blood and the tear they have shed, but remain silent. It is a day of victory and joy, and nothing should spoil them.) She makes sure to tell others to pack a timbrel, though. She has a feeling that they would make use of it soon.

"Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her in dance with timbrels. And Miriam chanted for them, 'Sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously; horse and driver He has hurled into the sea." (Ex. 15:20–21)

In the wilderness, the people remind Miriam of her little brother when he was just a baby, who cries whenever he feels the need to. They cry for water, complain for no meat, and even want to return to Egypt! They must have known what fate would await them there. Her brothers are getting more tired and older every day, and she tries her best to help. Life may be hard, but God is with them and He listens. What more can they ask for?

"Aaron, what are you doing?"  
"The people ask."  
"But Moses..."  
"Moses is gone, probably dead."  
"It is wrong!"  
"Stand by, sister."  
Miriam can't believe they will abandon Moses and the Lord so soon. What will the Lord do when He speaks on it?

Miriam has never seen Moses so furious before. He even breaks the stone he brings from the mountain. She is a bit ashamed at first, because she can't stop Aaron and the people, and it is mixed with relief that Moses returns and a strange pride that she has been right all along. But it has quickly turned into fear and worry. She fervently prays for the people. May the Lord have mercy!

 

Fortunately the Lord hears Moses' prayer and does not turn away from them. But the price is high. She sees the graveness on her relatives' face, their hands once covered with the blood of their neighbours. "You do the work for God," she tells them, not sure the words bring relief even to her.

On the first Passover in the wild, Miriam reflects on the previous year. So many happen. The once slaves bonded by Egypt now have their freedom, their law, and a sign that God is always with them. She raise the bread and says to her brothers, "Next year we will be in the promised land."

XXX

Why is she the only person to suffer? Aaron speaks too, and why is she punished? Why? She cries out to the Lord loudly as she suffers from the pain of skin affliction, the punishment brought by the Lord when she confronts Moses about his wife with Aaron. She has to stay for seven days as she is unclean. Seven days pass now, and some of her anger still remain, so is the pain and worry of being abandoned. It is impossible for her to survive alone in the wilderness "So is the woman who is Moses' wife..." there is a little whisper.

Then she feels the touch of the Lord. The Lord cares for her and cleanse her. She is left in wonder for the Lord purifies her Himself. When she return to the camp, she sees the people still staying there, Moses and Aaron with relief and joy radiating from them, and something softens in her.

XXX

Miriam knows she is dying now. Funny that one's whole life seems to condense at one's old age. Children's laugh and voice wake her out of the river of memory. This generation do not know the bondage of Egypt, do not make the mistake their parent's generation makes, and they will step on the promised land, led by God. Miriam says a prayer of thanks to the Lord and finally close her eyes, forever.

"The Israelites, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died there, and was buried there." (Numbers 20:1-2 )


End file.
